Sculpture born of drama

Press, 14 August 1976, Page 1

Sculpture born of drama

A keen interest in drama, as a member of the Halswell drama group, has been a strong influence on the ceramic sculpture of Nancy Harris, whose work is on display at the Upstairs and Downstairs Gallery in Manchester Street.

“I am interested in dramatic action, and I try to bring that out in my work,” she said. "There is certainly a connection.” Pieces in the exhibition include the anguished face of an old man, “soul singers” singing their hearts out (pictured), four studies of babies’ heads shielded in protective adult hands, a cigarettesmoking madonna, and tiny unfired Muldoons and Rowlings. Nancy Harris went to art school some years ago, but gave it up for teaching— much to her subsequent regret. She has been sculpturing at home in a tiny shed and, more recently, in one big enough to be called a studio. To make sure that her madonnas and her child studies are not misconstrued as mere sentiment, she gives an assurance in the catalogue to all nonmothers that “Nature’s brutal/magnificent processes have nothing to do with the saccharine fluffiness of baby powder advertisements.”